Shifting Scales (Book2 of The Fallen Prophecy)
by Bookman Old Style
Summary: Canopy's mother had died before she had even hatched. The young dragonet hated her father, desperately trying to make him go away for a whole year. But then he had been murdered by SkyWing's vicious claws, and Canopy was alone. Her only friend, Shadowscales was left behind in his own kingdom when Orchid and Mangrove adopted Canopy. Now she has to find him once more, ten years later
1. Acknowledgements

_S_ _h_ _i_ _f_ _t_ _i_ _n_ _g_ _S_ _c_ _a_ _l_ _e_ _s_

 _B_ _y_ _:_ _A_ _d_ _r_ _e_ _n_ _a_ _l_ _i_ _n_ _e_ _t_ _h_ _e_ _S_ _k_ _y_ _W_ _i_ _n_ _g_

 _F_ _o_ _r_ _a_ _l_ _l_ _o_ _f_ _t_ _h_ _e_ _d_ _r_ _a_ _g_ _o_ _n_ _s_ _I_ _'_ _v_ _e_ _m_ _e_ _t_ _t_ _h_ _r_ _o_ _u_ _g_ _h_ _o_ _u_ _t_ _t_ _h_ _e_ _y_ _e_ _a_ _r_ _s_ _,_ _a_ _n_ _d_ _t_ _h_ _e_ _o_ _n_ _e_ _s_ _I_ _'_ _v_ _e_ _c_ _r_ _e_ _a_ _t_ _e_ _d_ _i_ _n_ _o_ _n_ _e_ _m_ _e_ _a_ _s_ _l_ _y_ _d_ _a_ _y_ _._


	2. Prologue: The Rainforest's Downpour

Prologue

The dragonet snarled, swiping her front talons out in front of her. Her long claws left deep gashes in the tree's bark.

"I don't want to stay here!" she screamed at the two adult RainWing dragons trying to console her. Mangrove and Orchid hadn't had any eggs of their own yet, but they _had_ adopted this little orphaned dragonet.

And it was no wonder why her father had been so badly scarred before his awful death.

The young RainWing hissed and spat, refusing to let the two dragons to come near her. Violent, blood red burned through her scales in her fury, but a few faint gray-blue clouds drifted along her tiny shoulders.

"Canopy," Orchid said, her tone sympathetic. "I know this is a lot different from the Night Kingdom, but it's much better for you to be where your tribe belongs. It's better here for you than anywhere else in Pyrrhia. We promised your father upon his dying breaths that we would care for you, and protect you." She grabbed onto the dragonet's talons, feeling the strong claws dig into her scales. "Please, Canopy," Orchid whispered, her green eyes locking onto the dragonet's gray ones. "Please don't be upset."

Canopy bared her fangs at the two RainWings, but they still remained the same calm color of a rosy red, with sparks of worried fuchsia.

"Canopy, Orchid is right," Mangrove said. "We gave your father our word."

"But I hate it here and it's all wet and full of annoying bugs and _I want to be with Shadowscales!_ " Canopy roared at them, thrashing her trapped talons.

'Canopy, you're only a year old! There is no way that I'd leave a dragonet your age with a bunch of awful tempered NightWings!" Orchid said sternly, still staring into Canopy's eyes.

"You'll like it here, Canopy," Mangrove rumbled, his talons shifting. Rain had begun to pitter down from the treetops, splattering the RainWings.

She hissed at him, but the gray clouds on her shoulders began to spread along her body. Canopy felt hot tears prick her eyes, and she growled at herself.

"I don't want to stay," she whimpered. "I want to go home." Soon she sank onto the damp branch below her, sobbing in agony.

The dragonet cried for several minutes before she felt warm wings wrap around her, causing her to wail louder.

" _Rest now, my little one,_

 _Sleep now, my dear._

 _Quiet all your worries,_

 _Hush down, your tears._

 _I know the light seems cold,_

 _And the world seems like rain,_

 _But my dear, little Canopy, it'll all be okay._ " Orchid's melodious voice filled the dragonet's ears.

" _Take flight, my little one,_

 _Flap hard, my dear,_

 _For tomorrow, the sun will rise,_

 _There'll be nothing to fear._

 _And if, the clouds shall gather,_

 _And you feel the harsh of rain,_

 _And even though you won't see her,_

 _You shall know,_

 _That her light has shone._

 _If you dare believe the sun has gone,_

 _Remember your tribe, remember you are one,_

 _But if all you can hear are wails,_

 _You can change it all,_

 _Because you have our shifting scales."_


	3. Chapter 1: Mischief Unmanaged

Chapter 1

Canopy soared in the treetops, her tail grabbing branches and flinging her forward. Blood pounded in her ears as she heard the crashes of bodies against the trees and leaves and branches. Two dark red RainWings were chasing her, one of them firing scattered black droplets at her. Canopy panted heavily, not even thinking about her bright yellow and green scales causing attention –mainly concerned that she could be melted by that idiot RainWing's venom.

"Jaguar, you suck at aiming your venom!" she shouted over her shoulder with a wide grin.

"YOU'RE LUCKY I DO, YOU PATHETIC WORM!" he roared back at her. The other RainWing hissed in agreement, her eyes narrowing as she barely dodged a tree trunk. Her name was Aspen, the daughter of Liana and Cherry. Canopy had pushed them both into a water dam, leaving them sputtering and gasping for air. She had watched them for a moment, not realizing that she had given herself away, and when they had lunged at her, she was just barely ahead of them.

"GET BACK HERE, CANOPY!" Aspen bellowed, her claws brushing against Canopy's tail.

"AND WHY WOULD I DO THAT, YOU SEA SLUG?!" the younger RainWing howled. She turned her head to look at them, but of course a dragon just _happened_ to be right in front of her. She slammed into the other dragon, barreling out of control. Her neck twisted painfully as she rocketed into a crevice between branches, her wings sprawling out and her tail immediately latching itself around the tree. Canopy groaned, her bones aching.

"O-oh shrub-slashing frog-faces…." she moaned, covering her eyes with her trembling talons. Couldn't she just have some _fun_ without getting _punished_ or _murdered_? Jaguar and Aspen landed on the branch in front of her, both baring their fangs. Wow. Grumpy slug-eaters much?

Canopy narrowed her eyes at them, sighing. If she was going to fight, she'd do it like a RainWing.

"PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!" she shrieked

Aspen stopped, her wings drooping. Canopy actually saw hesitation in her grey-green eyes. "Kill you? I -I wasn't –no! I wasn't going to _kill_ you…." She shook her head and backed up a step, causing Canopy to struggle to hold her snicker. But Jaguar wasn't having any of it. He tramped forward and seized Canopy by the neck, his emerald eyes boring into her grey ones.

"You little mess of foliage," he hissed darkly, his foul breath making her cough -plus, you know, his stupid CLAWS around her THROAT. "How _dare_ you disgrace the nephew of the Queen."

Canopy snorted and immediately regretted it. She was running out of air. "Like you could be considered royalty," she gasped, her little talons clawing at Jaguar's. "You're lower than low –you're more of a _NightWing_." She saw Jaguar's scales darken to almost black, it billowing like storm clouds. He clutched her neck tighter and she whimpered as his claws began to dig in. She felt her warm blood trickle down her chest.

"Take it back," he roared, shaking her. "TAKE IT BACK WORM-EATER!" Canopy's head clocked hard against the trunk behind her and she began to kick with her hind-legs. She felt one of her talons connect with flesh and she stomped down, shivering as she felt scales tug along with her. Jaguar shrieked, and flung her off of the branch, letting Canopy only catch a glimpse of the damage she'd done. Well, blood was streaking its way down the edges of the branch –so she must've done something horrible.

Canopy flapped her wings, knowing how all of this would end up. She slammed into the forest floor and coughed, feeling the usual crack in her neck. Pain zig-zagged through her body until she rolled over to her stomach -which eased it all instantly. She shuddered and got to her talons. Surely Jaguar or Aspen would find themselves another RainWing, report to Queen Glory and Canopy would have to stay away from the village for at least a week. Glory necessarily wasn't a _bad_ Queen; she just was a little grouchy. And Canopy had enough grouchy RainWings in her life.

Canopy took flight from the forest floor and back up to the glistening red-branch. Aspen was bent over Jaguar, who whimpered and took in ragged breaths. Large leaves that looked like scales were wrapped firmly against his stomach –though they didn't do much good, seeing as the blood still slithered from between him and the plants. As Canopy landed, Aspen's head jerked up and she bared her fangs and a steady blast of black venom shot from her two-longest fangs. Canopy yelped and slipped, barely avoiding the acidic spit.

"Hey!" Canopy snarled, righting herself. What was _with_ these two?! "Are you insane?! You could've killed me!"

"I'd gladly kill you now!" Aspen roared, leaping at Canopy with long, wicked talons outstretched. Canopy immediately lashed out with her own claws, slicing four clean gouges across Aspen's face. She stared in horror as the other dragon fell, howling with agony. Blood bubbled from her left eye and Canopy began to hyperventilate.

 _What is wrong with you?!_ she screamed at herself. _You could've just killed your future queen! You're such a terrible dragon, for the forest's sake, Canopy!_

"Oh g-gosh," Canopy sputtered, holding her horns. Dread pounded through her little body, racking her to the point of where she had to dig her claws in to keep from falling off the branch.

"Now what's happened here?" came a strong voice and large wingbeats. Canopy shrank lower to the branch staring at her talons, not willing to look up.

Queen Glory was here, and her scales were as red as the blood on the tree branch.


End file.
